I Tried the New Pop!_OS 24.04 Beta (and I’m Very Impressed)

In this Linux Out of the Box episode, I take a first look at Pop!_OS 24.04 with the brand-new Cosmic Desktop. Built by System76, Pop!_OS has always been one of the most polished and beginner-friendly Linux distributions. With Cosmic, they’ve introduced a tiling-window manager experience designed to combine the ease of GNOME with the productivity of a tiling workflow.

I tested it on my usual rig — Ryzen 9 + RTX 5060 Ti + 32GB RAM — and while this release is still in beta, it already shows huge promise.

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🔹 What’s Covered in This Video
• Installing Pop!_OS 24.04 Cosmic (Beta) from Ventoy.
• Troubleshooting some install quirks (drive recognition, boot issues).
• First look at the Cosmic Desktop interface:
• Curved corners, dock, and modern polish.
• Tiling window manager built-in (with floating option).
• Workspaces and keyboard shortcuts for multitasking.
• Testing built-in software:
• LibreOffice for documents.
• Pop!_Shop / Cosmic Store for apps and Flatpaks.
• Adding extras:
• Installed Steam → Tested with Dredge (ran smoothly).
• Installed GIMP, Blender, and Pinta for creative workflows.
• Installed Alpaca AI for local language models.
• Running DaVinci Resolve on Cosmic (installed with my Pop!_OS script).
• Full GPU support with NVIDIA.
• Exporting to AV1, perfect for YouTube and streaming.

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🔹 First Impressions of Cosmic
• Looks beautiful – clean, modern, and cohesive.
• Tiling support is solid, but not as fast or fully keyboard-driven as Omarchy OS.
• Still feels mouse-heavy compared to Hyprland-based distros.
• Huge app availability via Flatpak makes it versatile for gaming, productivity, and creative work.
• A great “bridge” OS for users moving from Windows or macOS who want something familiar but more customizable.

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🔹 Who This Is For
• New Linux users looking for a beautiful, easy distro.
• Gamers who want Steam + Proton working out of the box.
• Creators testing Resolve, OBS, and creative apps on Linux.
• Anyone curious about System76’s new Cosmic desktop environment.

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💡 Key Takeaways

Pop!_OS 24.04 with Cosmic is still in beta, but it’s already shaping up to be one of the most attractive and user-friendly Linux distros. It won’t replace Omarchy for me personally — I prefer the fully keyboard-driven workflow — but this is an excellent step forward for Linux desktops and a solid choice for anyone who values ease of use, polish, and a smooth transition away from Windows/macOS.

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🔔 Subscribe

Follow the Linux Out of the Box series as I test more distros — from gaming-ready builds like Bazzite, to workstation distros like Rocky Linux, and innovative experiments like Omarchy OS. Each episode asks: can you install it and get to work out of the box?

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